Rising tide set to raise all flights

Indigo's order for wide-bodied, long-range jets from Airbus signals the rising ambitions of Indian airlines to muscle into international air travel. Competitor Air India has also ordered a mix of wide-and-narrow-bodied jets, but this is the market leader's first official indication of its plans to ferry Indians in and out of the country. India is expected to shoulder much of the growth in global aviation, both in domestic and international travel, over the next decade. The country's leading airlines are drawing up the blueprint on how to claw back market share lost to carriers in the Gulf that currently cater to the bulk of air traffic to India. Aviation hubs have sprung up all over West Asia, based on its location in Asia, Africa and Europe as well as plentiful cheap oil.

Jet fuel is one of the criteria for Indian airlines to venture abroad. Refuelling overseas brings down the single-biggest cost of running an airline, which is padded up by high taxes in India. Wide-bodied aircraft permit carriers to configure the cabin to offer business class that fattens profit margins and cuts dependency on the predominantly economy class domestic Indian traveller. A generation of Indian airlines has floundered trying to offer services to price-conscious Indians while running up enormous fuel bills. International traffic offers a way out of this trap.

It also could pay for some of the aviation infrastructure that GoI is putting up, hoping that some of its biggest airports can turn into international transit hubs. There is scope to bring some business from Dubai and Singapore to Delhi and Bengaluru. India has the potential to create multiple transit hubs, given the size of its landmass. For all of this, of course, Indian airlines need to start flying abroad. It is a sign of the growing maturity of the country's aviation industry that its biggest airline, Indigo, which began life as a budget carrier, is making the leap.